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Photos: Celebrity birthdays today, Jan. 22; and: Minnesota Wild named

The marketing team of the state’s new NHL franchise rolled out the club’s name on this day in 1998. “Wild” had the best selling potential, they said.
Most of the 13,000 fans who submitted suggestions wanted “North Stars” back — after new owners moved the team to Dallas and trimmed the name to “Stars” — but the name had NHL trademark issues.Six finalists emerged: White Bears (go, Bears!), Voyageurs (a little French), Blue Ox (highly northern), the Northern Lights (inanimate, but still distinctly northern), Freeze (inanimate, but still a noun) and Wild.
But once an outside marketing firm worked the concept, and surveys found enthusiasm for the trees and moon inside the wild cat head. “… Fans had clearly said ‘This is the mark that tells me what a Wild is,’ ” the club’s CEO Matt Majka said.
— Lisa Legge